(Oct. 19, 2011) - Beginning January 2012, 200 California State University students will get hands-on water management experience in internships funded by a $2 million United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant.

The federal award, which will fund 50 internships a year for the next four years, is directed toward the CSU’s 14 Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)—campuses with an undergraduate Hispanic student enrollment of at least 25 percent.

In addition to tackling California’s water woes, the grant also aims to improve retention and graduation outcomes for underrepresented students at the CSU’s HSIs. The student interns will develop academic pathways to join the next generation of employed water professionals.

“The USDA grant funding will provide students with an opportunity to learn watershed management techniques essential to California’s efforts to sustain a reliable and clean water supply in the 21st century,” said CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed. “The grant is one more avenue in which CSU’s underrepresented students can contribute to California’s future—and their own.”

Internships range from assisting CSU professors with watershed research to working at the USDA or another agency that manages community water supplies. In addition, interns will get advice on how to land a USDA job after graduation by ensuring they take the required courses to immediately apply for entry-level positions at the USDA and its agencies.

The CSU’s systemwide Water Resources and Policy Initiatives (WRPI) consortium spearheaded the grant proposal. WRPI leverages the system’s water experts into an important resource for addressing California’s complex water issues. To maintain efficiency in the grant allocations, the Water Resources Institute at CSU San Bernardino will administer the internship awards to the 14 HSI campuses.

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About the California State UniversityThe California State University is the largest system of senior higher education in the country, with 23 campuses, approximately 412,000 students and 43,000 faculty and staff. The CSU awards about 90,000 degrees annually and since its creation in 1961 has conferred nearly 2.6 million. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the CSU is renowned for the quality of its teaching and for the job-ready graduates it produces. The mission of the CSU is to provide high-quality, affordable education to meet the ever changing needs of the people of California. With its commitment to excellence, diversity and innovation, the CSU is the university system that is working for California.